The Deer Valley Unified School District is suing a parent, saying it shouldn’t have to pay private-school tuition for her special-needs child.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court last fall, seeks to overturn a state order that permits Krystal Schripsema’s autistic child to attend a private school at Deer Valley’s expense, according to court documents obtained by The Republic.

The state order in November concluded Schripsema’s child was denied a free and appropriate public education, which is required under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.

The state hearing had found the school district placed the boy in one of its schools that didn’t meet his needs and didn’t include Schripsema in decision-making for such placement.

Deer Valley was ordered to reimburse Schripsema nearly $1,600 for tuition paid to Sierra Academy, a private school in Scottsdale that specializes in teaching children with autism and other learning disabilities, and continue picking up the cost until it deems another school more appropriate, court documents show.

In its appeal, Deer Valley argues the judge did not have adequate evidence to overrule the district’s decision to place the first-grade student at Terramar Elementary School in north Peoria.

Last month, Schripsema filed a response and counterclaim that denounced the district’s complaints and asked the court to instead make her the plaintiff and allow her to recover attorneys’ fees for responding to the suit.

District officials would not comment on the pending litigation.

Schripsema was unavailable for comment, but her attorney, Amy Langerman, said the lawsuit came as a surprise.

“It is more disappointing when after they (Deer Valley) are told by a judge they violated the law, they don’t promptly do the right thing,” Langerman said.

The dispute began last April when the district drafted an individualized education plan, or IEP, for Schripsema’s son.

A student who qualifies as special needs must have an IEP created for them by a team of administrators and their parents.

School districts are then eligible for additional state money for each qualified special-needs student.

Part of the IEP process includes determining the most appropriate placement to meet the student’s needs.

Deer Valley ultimately decided Terramar was the best placement for the student, despite the conclusion of one district employee, who was part of the decision-making, that Sierra Academy was the best choice.

Schripsema notified the district she would enroll her son at the private school at Deer Valley’s expense because she felt the district didn’t offer her child a free and appropriate education.

By law, if a parent believes a school district has failed to offer their child a free and appropriate education, they may enroll in a private school without the district’s consent and request a due process hearing.

A court or hearing officer may entitle the parents to be reimbursed by the school district if they prove the IEP was inappropriate and their own placement was proper by law.

In such cases, the school district does not lose state funding for that student.

Last year, Deer Valley received roughly $32.8 million in per pupil funding and other sources for special education, according to data from the Arizona Department of Education.

Kacey Gregson, director of dispute resolution for the state education department, said about three to 10 due-process cases pertaining to special education go before a judicial hearing each year, and a fair amount are similar to Schripsema’s.

Gregson said in recent years judges have more often ruled in favor of the school district. In instances when the ruling is against the district, she said it’s extremely rare to see the district file an appeal in federal court.

For Deer Valley to win, Langerman said, the district must show that the judge’s ruling was “clearly erroneous,” and he said the burden of proof to do so is heavy.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 10:06 am and is filed under Arizona Republic News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.